forty or fifty persons agreed to meet together every Wednesday evening in London, in order to a free conversation, begun and ended with prayer. Mr Wesley himself was much attached to the Episcopal establishment; but the churches in general being soon shut against him, he preached in some dissenting chapels in London, also in Newgate, and in different places in the country, where he could gain admission. In consequence of lying under this kind of proscription, and multitudes crowding from all quarters to hear him, he was at length compelled to take the open air, and commence field preacher.
Mr Wesley finding his societies increasing very fast in London, Bristol, and other places, and having in vain solicited assistance from some of the established clergy, was induced to select from his followers those who appeared best qualified to instruct the rest. Hence originated his lay preachers, and from a similar cause the local preachers which abound in this connection. Having thus formed a number of active and zealous assistants, he sent them forth in every direction; some to watch over the societies already formed, and others to the highways and hedges, preaching repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and offering a free salvation to the chief of sinners. Their labours were eminently useful in every part of the kingdom, and numerous societies were formed. Even the colliers of Kingswood, and the miners of Cornwall, who were ignorant and wicked to a proverb, listened to the animated preaching of these itinerants, by
